Deadlock - The Flask
by PythianProphecy
Summary: Laura confronts Bill about his drinking habits after the flask incident with Ellen. Spoilers for Deadlock and Someone to Watch Over Me.


"Are you capable of climbing back out of this hole you've dug for yourself?" The question hung in the air for a moment.

"What the frak are you talking about?"

 _It was well past 10 the hallways of Galactica were bare except for the occasional passing of the Private on Firewatch or the shifting of one of Laura's guards on watch. They had long since returned from their walk throughout the halls arm in arm. The strolls carefree nature was shredded by the revelation of the Cylons a once mortal enemy mimicking them with their own memorial wall. Their walk back was not as light hearted and in the hours since returning the atmosphere of the room seemed to reflect their tenseness._

 _Laura looked up from the report that sat in front of her the words seeming to blur together,no -everything was blurring together. She wearily removed her glasses and rubbed at her temples before closing her eyes. The blurriness, the headaches were coming more frequently and the trembling in her hands. When she visited Cottle that day for the results of her MRI she didn't him to tell her, his look said it all. The cancer had finally reached her brain, and soon she would be bedridden like her mother needing someone to take care of her._

"I don't know who you are anymore" she says looking up.

"Who I am…" the slightly slurred words were punctuated by the glass clumsily banging against the desk as he approached.

She could smell the alcohol on him long before he'd reached where she was sitting the smell invading her sensitive nose, threatening to make her expel what little she had choked down for dinner. She noticed him reaching for his hand, she wanted to take comfort in him touching her but she couldn't. The drinking was starting to bleed into so many aspects of his life and by extension her life as well. She pulled her hand away, she looked up to see expression on his face – it had stung him.

"Laura…."

"You don't see it, but I do…I see you everyday but you aren't the man I fell in love with… you're almost a shadow".

 _ **0600 2 Days earlier**_

 _Her head felt like it was pounding, she winced as she maneuvered in the tiny rack that she and Bill shared. Granted it wasn't as small as her "rack" on Colonial One, but certainly wasn't meant to be shared by two adults. It wasn't her head that was pounding she realized when she forced her eyes open, it was someone banging on the hatch. She blinked in the darkness; she could hear Bill stumbling around in the dark. The darkness is pierced by the light from his desk lamp revealing his disheveled appearance, something that was so uncommon for him. He was struggling to adjust the uniform he had worn yesterday; he hadn't even bothered to change. Averting her eyes she pressed her face into his pillow, it reeked of alcohol. A now frequent occurrence, he was coming to bed drunk as demonstrated now sometimes not even bothering to change his clothes._

She was brought out of her thoughts by the feel of his hands clasping her shoulders gently, the feel of his cheek against her scarf clad head. She softly sighed at the contact, trying not to give in to the stirrings of her heart not when she was mad at him. She looked up, bright green eyes meeting blue the maelstrom churning in the depths.

"I can't fight you, I don't have the stamina but you're abandoning the Fleet and me" she says before looking down.

"Colonel Tigh has changed so much since Liam, he's grown stronger…yet you are spiraling further down…you don't want to see it or feel it but you need to."

Bill pulls away from her with a scoff, "I don't need to listen to this", he says before moving to exit the room.

She looks on in silence as he retreats hoping he will be able to carry on when she is gone. She looks down as she tries to steady her heads by clasping them together.

 _ **4 Days Later**_

 _Bill clutched Sea Rider Falcon to his chest as he entered Sick Bay, acting as if it was no different than any day he encountered her in Sick Bay. This time was different however this was no treatment, this was the end that he had always been avoiding. She had been found lying on the floor of their quarters after Boomer jumped away with Hera. Her temperature was elevated and she had fluid in her lungs from a secondary infection. But this time he knew he wouldn't be taking her back home. He looked up from the deck to see not just Laura but Doc Cottle dutifully sitting by her bedside his hand holding hers. Bill was struck with the realization that that wasn't Sherman's place- Laura had been right. He holds back tears as he looks across Laura's rack at Sherman before taking her hand in his._

 _"I'm here….i'm here" he says softly as he stroked her forehead._


End file.
